Thiago Michel is a kickboxer who made the switch over to MMA and has had a successful career in that, fighting in Bellator and making it to the organization's lightweight semi-final. Michel still does kickboxing, and has fought a number of times in that in Brazil this year, including his most prominent kickboxing fight to date at It's Showtime Brazil on November 10, where he defeated Steve Poort by unanimous decision.

On December 8, this Saturday, Michel returns to the kickboxing ring at the Tatneft Cup Brazil in Sao Paulo, which allows three Brazillian kickboxers to qualify to fight in the main Tatneft Cup tournaments in Kazan, Russia. Michel will be in an eight man, one night tournament at 70kg.

Along with the 70kg tournament that Michel is in, there's also an 80kg eight man tournament and a four man tournament at heavyweight, which will also be one night affairs. The tournament fights will be determined by lottery on the day of weigh-ins, which takes place tomorrow.

The Tatneft Cup Brazil is how Saulo Calavari qualified for the Tatneft Cup and eventually lead him to K-1. Brazil has a lot of talent, as we saw at It's Showtime Brazil with three Brazillians defeating their foreign counterparts, and it's good to see fighters from there being given an opportunity to get good fights in kickboxing.